The People’s Apostasy Rebuked51Hear this, O priests! Give heed, O house of Israel! Listen, O house of the king! For the judgment applies to you, For you have been a snare at Mizpah And a net spread out on Tabor.2The revolters have [V]Or waded deep in slaughtergone deep in depravity, But I will chastise all of them.3I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me; For now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot, Israel has defiled itself.4Their deeds will not allow them To return to their God. For a spirit of harlotry is within them, And they do not know the Lord.5Moreover, the pride of Israel testifies against him, And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity; Judah also has stumbled with them.6They will go with their flocks and herds To seek the Lord, but they will not find Him;He has withdrawn from them.7They have dealt treacherously against the Lord,For they have borne [W]Lit strangeillegitimate children. Now the new moon will devour them with their [X]Lit portionsland.8Blow the horn in Gibeah, The trumpet in Ramah. Sound an alarm at Beth-aven: “Behind you, Benjamin!”9Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke; Among the tribes of Israel I declare what is sure.10The princes of Judah have become like those who move a boundary; On them I will pour out My wrath like water.11Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment, Because he was determined to [Y]Or with some ancient versions, follow nothingnessfollow man’s command.12Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim And like rottenness to the house of Judah.13When Ephraim saw his sickness, And Judah his [Z]Or ulcerwound, Then Ephraim went to Assyria And sent to [A]Or the avenging king or the great kingKing Jareb. But he is unable to heal you, Or to cure you of your [B]Or ulcerwound.14For I will be like a lion to Ephraim And like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away, I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver.15I will go away and return to My place Until they [C]Or bear their punishmentacknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.